With the First Pick in the 2008 NFL Draft, the Philadelphia Eagles Select...

[Drunkmasterflex]

Well most are projecting Albert as a LT now, that is the main reason he is skyrocketing up the boards.  The thing is he may end up being the second coming of Anthony Munoz, but right now you don't know that.  Giving up Lito a known quantity and a first for an unknown is a lot. 

[ice grillin you]

i have to imagine the eagles would want them as a guard if they are gonna trade up....you dont trade up for a tackle that was converted from guard and if thats the case then i wouldnt do the lito trade

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

All I'm saying is don't get your hopes up for getting a lot of value out of Lito at this point.

[Drunkmasterflex]

To me if you get a second for him that is good value at this point.  Using him to move up 8 slots or so in the draft is not, who knows maybe they make a trade with Baltimore if they can't get Ryan.  They are in the market for a corner and there is an obvious connection. 

Those mock drafts make me laugh especially from "experts" like McShay how could anybody possibly have the Eagles taking a LB in the first? I say that and they will probably take one. 

[SD_Eagle5]

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/eagles/20080420_Survey_says__Birds_OK_in_NFL_draft.html

Survey says: Birds OK in NFL draft
Andy Reid and Tom Heckert have had their misses. But they've also found some talent along the way.
By Bob Brookover

Inquirer Staff Writer

For the last three months, the most hard-core Eagles fans have been bombarded by mock drafts, listened to all sorts of trade speculation, and wondered what their team will do on draft day.
The possibilities are endless. You couldn't find a single person conducting mock drafts a year ago at this time who had the Eagles trading their first-round pick to division rival Dallas, then taking quarterback Kevin Kolb with their first overall pick in the second round.

With cornerback Lito Sheppard as a trade chip, the Eagles could end up with something other than the 19th pick in the first round of Saturday's draft. The trade rumors about wide receivers such as Cincinnati's Chad Johnson and Detroit's Roy Williams persist, and the infinite number of mock drafts online have different players being selected by the Eagles in the first round.

One Web site - fftoolbox.com - had well over 100 mock drafts. Twenty-eight players were named among the first 100 mocks, which makes you wonder whether they should change the name to crock drafts.

The educated guess here is that the Eagles will take an offensive tackle, with Virginia's Branden Albert, Vanderbilt's Chris Williams and Pittsburgh's Jeff Otah as possibilities should they remain at 19. They will be able to land Boise State's Ryan Clady only if they can move up in the first round.

"Picking 19, a lot of things can happen," Eagles general manager Tom Heckert said. "We don't know who we're going to pick."

This, however, is not about what the Eagles are going to do. Today we are examining how the Eagles have done in their six drafts conducted by the duo of Heckert and head coach Andy Reid.

It's easy, of course, to find the hits and misses.

Trent Cole: good pick.

Jerome McDougle: bad pick.

See, so easy a sportswriter can do it.

Far more difficult is putting into context how the Eagles have compared with the NFL's 31 other teams since Heckert was hired to be Reid's righthand man in draft decisions.

The overall answer to that question: OK. In an Inquirer study of the 32 teams and 1,546 players selected since the 2002 draft, the Eagles ranked 14th based on a scoring system that awarded individual players four points for every season they made the Pro Bowl, three points for every season they started 16 games, two points for every season they started at least half their team's games, and one point for appearing in at least half the team's games.

For example, Eagles guard Shawn Andrews, a first-round pick in 2004, received 11 points because he has had two Pro Bowl seasons - four points each - and he started all 16 games in 2006. He did not get any points for his rookie season, when he was injured on opening day and spent the remainder of the year on injured reserve.

Though some people want to blame the departure of star wide receiver Terrell Owens for the Eagles' inability to make the playoffs in two of the last three seasons, the more significant reason may be that the team did not draft well in 2003 and 2004. The Eagles' 2003 draft, according to the study, was the fifth worst in the NFL in terms of player production.

That, of course, is the year the team moved up to the 15th slot and took McDougle, who has had three career sacks, zero career starts, and an endless amount of well-documented misfortune. But McDougle wasn't the only poor pick the Eagles made in that draft.

Third-round selection Billy McMullen and second-day picks Jamaal Green, Jeremy Bridges and Norman Lejeune also contributed little or nothing. Only Bridges had modest success elsewhere.

Tight end L.J. Smith has been the only productive selection from that draft, but the Cowboys got by far the best player at that position in the 2003 draft when they took Jason Witten eight picks after Smith.

Despite having 10 picks in the 2004 draft, the Eagles did not get much production. They did hit at the top when they used their second-round pick to make a deal with San Francisco that gave them the 16th overall pick; Andrews has become a Pro Bowl offensive guard.

After that, however, fullback Thomas Tapeh and safety J.R. Reed have been the only productive players, and eight of the 10 players from that class are either playing elsewhere or out of the league.

"You hate to have drafts like that where guys haven't produced," Heckert said. "If you do have drafts like that, you, hopefully, have some good drafts down the line and it kind of makes up for it. Obviously, you can't have too many like that or it's going to affect you."

The Eagles have had some good drafts in the Heckert-Reid era. Their first one still rates as their best. With 58 points in the Inquirer survey, they tied the Pittsburgh Steelers for the most in the 2002 draft.

Sheppard, safety Michael Lewis, and running back Brian Westbrook became Pro Bowl players, and cornerback Sheldon Brown has never missed a game. Few teams obtain four players like that in one draft.

The Eagles also drafted well in 2005, the year after they went to the Super Bowl. Mike Patterson has been a solid No. 1 choice and defensive end Trent Cole has become a Pro Bowl player despite being a fifth-round pick. Wide receiver Reggie Brown and guard Todd Herremans have been starters the last two seasons. Linebacker Matt McCoy was a major bust as a second-round pick, but every team, including the Patriots and the Cowboys, has made mistakes in the early rounds.

The Eagles have produced five Pro Bowl players in the last six years - tied for the third most in that time frame. Only the Cowboys and San Diego Chargers, with seven each, have drafted more Pro Bowl players.

A major reason the Eagles haven't had as much success in the last three years is that the other NFC East teams have started to draft better. The Cowboys have drafted as well as any team in the NFL over the last six years, and that doesn't take into account that they added quarterback Tony Romo as an undrafted free agent in 2003. Dallas over the last six years has had seven players participate in a total of 16 Pro Bowls.The Giants also have improved in the draft department in the last six seasons, and, based on the contributions from their rookies late last season, they may have hit the jackpot in 2007.

Only the Washington taterskins continued to lag, and that's mostly because they have given away too many picks. With 34 picks over the last six years, the taterskins had the fewest in the NFL and 26 fewer than Tennessee, which drafted a league-high 60 in that time.Heckert said he thought The Inquirer survey was fair except in grading the 2007 draft. He said it's too early to evaluate that class. Those grades, more than any others, are subject to change because the Eagles rarely have asked for or received much from rookie players over the last six seasons. The exception was 2005, when injuries led to a long list of rookies getting extended playing time.

The success or failure of a draft, Heckert said, is based on more than the selections.

"You have to mix everything together," he said. "You obviously have to get good players, but you need guys who get your scheme, and then you have coaching changes with some teams. There's a lot that goes into whether a guy makes it or doesn't make it. You see it all around the league where guys - even late-round picks - go somewhere else and are good performers.

"You look at all of your picks. Sometimes you can't figure out why they succeed, but the majority of the time you can. Sometimes it's size or speed. The majority of the time you overlooked something or you gambled a little bit and lost."

Heckert and Reid are days away from their seventh draft together, but we're still a few years away from really knowing whether it's a good one. In the meantime, enjoy all those crock drafts.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Heckert-Reid Draft Report
   The Eagles hired Tom Heckert as director of player personnel less than a month after the 2001 draft, and he and head coach Andy Reid have conducted six drafts together. Some – 2002 and 2005 – have been outstanding while others – 2003 and 2004 – have been weak. The following chart shows how the Eagles compare with the other 31 NFL teams.    All 1,546 players drafted since the 2002 season were given a point total for their production with the team that selected them. They were not given points for what they did with other teams. Players received four points for each season they made the Pro Bowl, three points for each season they started all 16 games, two points for each season they started at least half their team's games and one point for playing in at least half their team's games.

   The chart is listed by team, total number of picks, players that are still with the team, number of Pro Bowl players and their total number of Pro Bowls, number of top 10 picks and total points.

- Bob Brookover

[ice grillin you]

thats interesting...did the inky publish their whole report

[SD_Eagle5]

yeah...its at the very bottom. I had to delete it because it was too big. Here it is:

Team             Picks Remain PB Playoffs Top10 Pts
Tennessee Titans          60       24       3-3   2-3       2    191
Dallas Cowboys          48       25       7-16   0-3       2   186

San Diego Chargers       48       25       7-11    2-3       2    186

Indianapolis Colts       51       26       5-8    7-5 (1)    0    167

Jacksonville Jaguars    53       28       2-3   1-2       3    165

Baltimore Ravens          52       30       2-6   0-2       1    163

Houston Texans          53       25       4-5   0-0      5   161

Chicago Bears          51       27       4-9    2-2      1   160

New York Giants          44       22       3-7    4-3 (1)   1    156

New York Jets             44       20      3-3   2-3       2    152

Arizona Cardinals       40       20       3-5   0-0      4   150

San Francisco 49ers       56       28       3-3   1-1       2    149

New England Patriots    50       19       4-4    11-3 (2)    0    147

Philadelphia Eagles         51       26      5-9    5-3      0    146

Seattle Seahawks       49       25       2-4   4-5      0    144

Carolina Panthers       49       20      1-3   5-2       2    142

Oakland Raiders          52       24      1-1   2-1      3    140


Team             Picks Remain PB Playoffs Top10 Pts
Minnesota Vikings       43       19       2-4   1-1      4   139
Buffalo Bills             46       25      1-2    0-0       2    138

Pittsburgh Steelers      47       20       3-7   6-3 (1)    0    134

Cleveland Browns       47       21      4-4   0-1      3    132

Cincinnati Bengals      48       21      1-2   0-1      2   132

New Orleans Saints       44       16       4-5    1-1      2    129

St. Louis Rams          55       22       1-1   1-2      0   129

Green Bay Packers       54       26      3-4   2-4      1    124

Detroit Lions             47       18       1-1   0-0      6   121

Kansas City Chiefs       43       17       2-3   0-2      1    116

Atlanta Falcons          45       22       1-2    2-2       2    113

Miami Dolphins          43       19       0-0   0-0       2    100

Denver Broncos          45       13       1-1    1-3       0    98

Tampa Bay Bucs          54       26       1-1   3-2 (1)   2   98

Washington taterskins    34       13       2-4    1-2      3   87



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Grading Eagles' Class of 2007

Position   Player   Round    Pick   Points    Comment   
QB Kevin Kolb          2d    36       0       Played 1 game
DE Victor Abiamiri    2d      57      0       Played 6 games

LB Stewart Bradley    3d    87       1       Played 16 games

RB Tony Hunt          3d    90       1       Played 8 games

CB C.J. Gaddis      5th    159    0       Released

TE Brent Celek       5th    162   1      Played 16, started 4

S    Rashad Barksdale 6th    201    0       Released

RB Nate Ilaoa          7th    236   0       Released

Totals: 8 picks, 5 remain, 3 points.

Comment: This has a chance to be a strong draft class with Bradley being the first to become a starter in 2008.

All players in the 2007 NFL draft were given a point total for their production with the team that selected them. They were not given points for what they did with other teams. Players receive four points for making the Pro Bowl, three points for each season they started all 16 games, two points for each season they started at least half their team's games and one point for playing in at least half their team's games.


Grading the Overall Class of 2007
Top Five
Atlanta Falcons         11 picks, 13 points
Miami Dolphins         10 picks, 11 points

Tampa Bay Bucs          10 picks, 11 points

Green Bay Packers      11 picks, 10 points

Jacksonville Jaguars      11 picks, 10 points


Bottom Five
New England Patriots   9 picks, 1 point
New Orleans Saints      7 picks, 2 points

EAGLES                  8 picks, 3 points

Denver Broncos         4 picks, 3 points

San Diego Chargers      6 picks, 4 points

Best overall pick: 3-way tie: Adrian Peterson, RB, Minnesota Vikings; Patrick Willis, LB, San Francisco 49ers; and Joe Thomas, OT, Cleveland Browns.

Comment: All three first-round picks were Pro Bowl players as rookies.

Best Eagles pick: Stewart Bradley, LB, 3d round.

Comment: Played in all 16 games and is projected as the starting middle linebacker in 2008.

Worst overall pick: Robert Meachem, WR, New Orleans Saints.

Comment: The 27th overall pick showed up out of shape for training camp and did not play in a single game as a rookie.

Worst Eagles pick: Kevin Kolb, QB, 2d round.

Comment: The Eagles' first selection didn't do anything wrong as a rookie, but there's no telling if or when he'll get on the field.

[SD_Eagle5]

Eskin said on sports final last night the thinks the Eagles will take Kenny Phillips. He has his head up the Eagles ass so there might be some interest. My gut tells me they're going O-line and will probably trade up to do so.

[SD_Eagle5]

JETS, PATS FEUD CONTINUES ON DRAFT DAY
Posted by Mike Florio on April 21, 2008, 9:46 a.m.

The National Football League's version of the Hatfield and the McCoys (I used that same line in a SportingNews.com item that should be released later today . . . if they don't kill it for general suckiness) will take their hate-hate relationship to a new level on Saturday, when the Jets use the No. 6 overall pick in the draft, and the Pats exercise the very next selection.

The blood war between these franchises significantly predates their most memorable skirmish, which blew the lid off the Pats' videotaping practices and sparked a still-ongoing debate as to whether one or more of their Super Bowl trophies are tarnished.

The New York Daily News looks at the history of the relationship, specifically as it relates to the draft. In 2001, the Pats swung a trade to get in front of the Jets once the Pats concluded that the Jets planned to use a second-round pick on tackle Matt Light. The next year, the Pats again leap-frogged the Jets, but took tight end Daniel Graham with the No. 21 overall selection, leaving the player whom the Jets had targeted — defensive end Bryan Thomas — still on the board.

This year, the Pats surely hope to put the Vulcan mind trick on the Jets, getting them to take a guy whom the Pats don't really want, and not to take the player whom the Patriots secretly covet. Though much of it depends on who is drafted among the top five, both teams surely have worked out the scenarios with every combination of the top prospects going to the Fins, Rams, Falcons, Raiders, and Chiefs before them.

Both teams have shown interest in running back Darren McFadden and linebacker/defensive end Vernon Gholston. They each could slip through the first five spots, and be on the board when the Jets select.

Another possibility would be for the Jets to trade out of the six spot with a team who wants to get the guy whom the Patriots are expected to desire. Versatile Virginia offensive lineman Brendan Albert could be the Pats' perceived prize. Some think that the Eagles would like to trade up to get him, so a New York-Philly deal could be just what the Jets need to stick it to the Pats. Especially if the Jets also get cornerback Lito Sheppard as part of the transaction.
Regardless of what the Jets do at No. 6, the Pats might look to trade out of the No. 7 spot, but only after they allow their presence over the Jets' collective shoulders to cause G.M. Mike Tannenbaum to lose as many extra hairs as possible.

And don't rule out the possibility of Cowboys owner Jerry Jones talking trade with each team in the event that McFadden isn't selected in the first five spots. Jones has two first-rounders to give, and either team would be wise to consider taking them.

It's one of the most intriguing aspects of this year's draft, and with only ten minutes per team in round one, we won't have to wait long to see what happens.

[pinoyboy2pt0]

kenny phillips has disaster written all over him.  well, maybe not disaster, but more like an unmotivated less athletic version of michael lewis.  i hope eskin is pushing that so some other retard will pick him before 19.

[SD_Eagle5]

I wouldn't mind Phillips in the second but he's bad value at #19

[SD_Eagle5]

Heckert wouldn't say it, but the Eagles have Michigan State's Devin Thomas rated as the top receiver in the draft. Thomas, 6-foot-2 and 215 pounds, had a strong junior season for the Spartans and is also a kick returner, but he may not be available if the Eagles wait until the 19th selection.

Brookover: What do the Eagles really need

[PhillyPhreak54]

5 was on SportsCenter and reiterated his desire for a play-maker. They asked him what he wanted the Eagles to do at 19 and basically he said that they need a play-maker now and not to draft for the future. He wants a home run hitter now.

[Drunkmasterflex]

5 was on SportsCenter and reiterated his desire for a play-maker. They asked him what he wanted the Eagles to do at 19 and basically he said that they need a play-maker now and not to draft for the future. He wants a home run hitter now.

Looks like it will have to be someone like Kelly, Sweed, or Jackson....I don't think Thomas will be there. 

[ice grillin you]

i wouldnt be surprised to see thomas drop farther than most people think because of his relative inexperience